A Facebook page claims the public can apply for free gas cylinders from Total Kenya, part of the multinational oil and gas company.
It has posted a link to a website www.totalgaskenya.com where people can apparently book the gas cylinders.
But the instructions on the unprofessional-looking website closely resemble those on a scam website recently debunked by Africa Check, which claimed oil company KenolKobil was giving away gas.
Is this Total give-away legitimate?
Instructions to receive the “free” gas include paying a “delivery fee” of KSh200 for a 6 kilogram cylinder and KSh270 for a 13 kilogram cylinder. A mobile number is listed to send the cash to.
Having to pay an administration fee for a give-away or charity is often a sign that something is fishy.
And there are other hints that the campaign is fraudulent. For example, the Facebook page posting about the give-away is not the official Facebook page for Total Kenya.
And there is no such campaign advertised on the Total website, or on its official Facebook and Twitter pages.
Total Kenya took to Twitter to debunk the rumours. It shared a screenshot of the website stamped “fake” and said the company is not offering any free cylinders.
It also posted on Facebook: “The website http://totalgaskenya.com/bookfree/ is not a Total Website & we are taking appropriate action on the same. Our official website is http://total.co.ke.” – Dancan Bwire
It has posted a link to a website www.totalgaskenya.com where people can apparently book the gas cylinders.
But the instructions on the unprofessional-looking website closely resemble those on a scam website recently debunked by Africa Check, which claimed oil company KenolKobil was giving away gas.
Is this Total give-away legitimate?
Red flags
Instructions to receive the “free” gas include paying a “delivery fee” of KSh200 for a 6 kilogram cylinder and KSh270 for a 13 kilogram cylinder. A mobile number is listed to send the cash to.
Having to pay an administration fee for a give-away or charity is often a sign that something is fishy.
And there are other hints that the campaign is fraudulent. For example, the Facebook page posting about the give-away is not the official Facebook page for Total Kenya.
And there is no such campaign advertised on the Total website, or on its official Facebook and Twitter pages.
‘Total Kenya not offering any free cylinders’
Total Kenya took to Twitter to debunk the rumours. It shared a screenshot of the website stamped “fake” and said the company is not offering any free cylinders.
It also posted on Facebook: “The website http://totalgaskenya.com/bookfree/ is not a Total Website & we are taking appropriate action on the same. Our official website is http://total.co.ke.” – Dancan Bwire
Republish our content for free
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment